Toussaint Duchateau

Toussaint Duchateau (21 March 1776-21 January 1813) was a Brigadier-General of France during the Napoleonic Wars. A brave soldier, he was killed personally leading French forces in the Battle of Swiecie.

Biography
Toussaint Duchateau was born in Montreuil-sur-Mer in Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern France in 1776. The son of a weaver, Duchateau joined the Royal Army in 1789 at the age of thirteen. He would never have expected to be promoted past NCO rank during this time, but when the French revolutionaries created the French Republic in 1792, Duchateau became a captain of the Fusiliers of Line at the mere age of 16.

Duchateau served in the defensive campaigns of 1792-93 in northern France against the Coalition forces in the Austrian Netherlands, and fought at the Battle of Jemappes in 1792 and at Neerwinden in 1793. Through the thick and thin, Duchateau gained distinction for his personal command of his troops and his bravery.

In 1793 Duchateau joined the cavalry and became the commander of a regiment of Hussars in northern Italy. He was placed under the command of General Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1796 Italian Campaign and fought under him as one of his General's Staff. Duchateau became a personal friend of Bonaparte and accompanied him to Egypt in 1798-1800 and Europe in 1805-1812.

Toussaint was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1805 and served in the Battle of Austerlitz, where he was wounded by Austrian grenadiers while charging up Pratzen Heights alongside Napoleon. He was returned to Paris to recover from his wounds and in January 1806 returned to battle during the war against Prussia in the Fourth Coalition. Duchateau proved himself in the Battle of Eylau in 1807, the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809, and the Battle of Borodino in 1812 as a commander of cavalry under Napoleon.

Death at Swiecie
During the retreat from the Borodino campaign of winter 1812, Duchateau was made a Brigadier-General, commanding a brigade of Fusiliers of Line. In January 1813, at the Battle of Swiecie, he commanded the French right flank under Napoleon and accompanied the Emperor into battle. In the Emperor's charge against Prussian infantry units, Duchateau was mortally wounded by a bayonet stab and unhorsed. He died of his wounds in the battle, and Napoleon posthumously named him as a Marshal of France.